Sometimes one travels for pleasure and other times for study or business. Sometimes we meet someone at the destination or they invite us to their home and we want to give them a gift. So the question that arises is what can we give away, what is well considered, what is not.
China it is a complicated culture in this sense. While in other countries the rules are more relaxed here there are a number of resounding NOs when it comes to thinking about gifts. On the other hand, it seems that the Chinese really like to play with their language, so you should know that there are words that sound the same but are written differently, so real word games are put together. If you follow these rules when giving gifts to a Chinese you will not have any problems:
- number four is bad luck because it is pronounced like the word death so everything that has to do with 4 does not go (this also applies to Japanese culture). If you want to give something with a number, you can opt for six or eight, which are very popular.
- don't give a book Someone in business or close to competition because "book" is pronounced the same as "lose."
- if you think about giving fruits never give tangerines to a family or couples since the word is pronounced the same as divorce.
- do not give a watch because "giving a watch" sounds like "burial."
- don't give away shoes because it implies walking and in China walking can mean walking towards death.
- do not give umbrellas because it is pronounced in the same way as losing something.
- no sharp objects because symbolically you would be cutting off the relationship.
- y no chrysanthemums because it is the traditional flower of funerals and because in popular Chinese it is related to the anus.